My Favorite Books of 2025
This is a first for me. I’ve never even tried to compile a list of my favorite books even though I’m asked all the time. Well, here goes my first! I considered which books lingered with me, which I was most likely to recommend or talk about, and even the one that brought me to tears. I also considered any book I read during the year, regardless when it was or will be published. I hope this book will add to your TBR pile and I’ll hope it will get you talking about and sharing your own personal favorites.
Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson. Dial; 2025
A Place for Us by James E. Ransome. Nancy Paulsen Books; 2025
City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon; illustrated by Alexis Franklin. Kokila, 2025
The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War Two Story by Daniel Nayeri. Levine Querido; 2025
The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvant. Candlewick; 2023
Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi. Knopf Books for Young Readers; 2025
Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Heartdrum;
2025
The Fragments That Remain by MacKenzie Angeconeb. Dcb Young Readers; 2025
The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, a Legace of Sisterhood, and their Reclamation of a
Groundbreaking History (Adapted for Young Adults) by Karen Valby. Delacorte Press; 2025
One Word Six Letters by Adib Khoram. Henry Holt/Macmillan; 2026
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American
Racism by Eve Ewing. One World; 2025
The Antidote: A Novel by Karen Russell. Knopf; 2025
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Filed under: Book List, Uncategorized
About Edith Campbell
Edith Campbell is Librarian in the Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State University. She is a member of WeAreKidlit Collective, and Black Cotton Reviewers. Edith has served on selection committees for the YALSA Printz Award, ALSC Sibert Informational Text Award, ALAN Walden Book Award, the Walter Award, ALSC Legacy Award, and ALAN Nielsen Donelson Award. She is currently a member of ALA, BCALA, NCTE NCTE/ALAN, REFORMA, YALSA and ALSC. Edith has blogged to promote literacy and social justice in young adult literature at Cotton Quilt Edi since 2006. She is a mother, grandmother, gardener and quilter.
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